BizBee Funding vs OnDeck: Soft Pull vs Hard Pull Credit Impacts

BizBee Funding uses a soft credit pull for pre-qualification across its 100+ lender network, so checking your options does not affect your FICO score. OnDeck also begins with a soft pull during pre-qualification but performs a hard inquiry once you formally accept terms or move to underwriting. A single hard inquiry typically lowers a FICO score by fewer than 5 points, per FICO's published scoring guidance.

A soft credit pull (also called a soft inquiry) lets a lender preview your credit profile, score, basic tradelines, and recent inquiries, without leaving a visible mark on your credit report that other lenders can see. Soft pulls have zero impact on your FICO score. They are the standard tool used for pre-qualification, rate previews, and marketplace matching across the business lending industry, including the soft-pull-only review that defines BizBee's Soft-Pull Review Only pillar.

A hard credit pull (or hard inquiry) is recorded on your credit report and is visible to other lenders for 24 months. Per FICO's published scoring guidance (myFICO Credit Education), a single hard inquiry typically reduces a strong FICO score by fewer than 5 points, and the inquiry only factors into your score for the first 12 months. Multiple hard inquiries for the same product type, including auto loans, mortgages, and business loans, that land within a 14- to 45-day window are bundled and counted as a single inquiry. That is FICO's rate-shopping protection.

FICO publishes specific guidance on hard-inquiry impact. For most consumers with established credit histories, a single hard inquiry reduces the FICO score by fewer than 5 points (myFICO). The exact impact depends on the rest of the profile: borrowers with short credit histories or only a few accounts see a larger drop than borrowers with deep, well-aged files. Experian and Equifax both confirm the same directional range, with hard inquiries representing roughly 10% of total FICO score composition.

Inquiry visibility and scoring impact have different timelines. Experian and TransUnion display hard inquiries on your credit report for 24 months. FICO only weights them in the score for the first 12 months. After month 12, the inquiry is still visible to lenders reading your full report, but it has stopped pulling your score down.

BizBee Funding's HoneyScore™ pre-qualification runs a soft pull on your personal credit when you submit the BeeLine™ application. That soft pull, combined with your business revenue, time in business, and bank statement signals, is what NectarMatch™ uses to surface your best-fit lenders across the 100+ lender network. At this stage your FICO score is untouched, no inquiry is recorded, and you can compare multiple lender offers side by side. This is the operational form of the BizBee promise: one smart match, no lender swarm.

A hard pull only happens at one specific moment: when you decide to formally apply with the lender you have chosen. Because your advisor has already pre-screened the file, you typically commit to a hard pull with a high probability of approval, rather than spraying hard inquiries across multiple lenders to find out who will say yes.

OnDeck is a direct lender, not a marketplace. Per OnDeck's own application disclosures, their online application begins with a soft credit pull during pre-qualification, which lets you see indicative offers without affecting your FICO. If you decide to move forward, accepting terms or proceeding into formal underwriting, OnDeck performs a hard pull to finalize the decision. This is standard practice for direct online lenders.

Because OnDeck is one lender, the hard pull only covers OnDeck's underwriting. If OnDeck declines you or offers worse terms than expected, comparing other direct lenders typically means submitting additional applications, each of which may add its own hard inquiry once you proceed past their pre-qualification.

On a soft pull, the lender sees enough to make a preliminary decision: your current FICO score band, the number of open accounts, your revolving utilization, recent delinquencies, and the count of recent hard inquiries on file. They do not see itemized account-level detail, and the soft pull is not visible to any other lender reviewing your report afterward.

On a hard pull, the lender sees the full credit report from one or more bureaus: every open and closed tradeline, payment history by month, balances, credit limits, public records, and the full inquiry history. The hard pull is also visible to every subsequent lender who reviews your report for the next 24 months, which is why FICO only weights it for 12 months but the inquiry record itself persists longer.

If you apply directly to three or four lenders to compare offers and each one moves you past pre-qualification, you can accumulate three or four separate hard inquiries. Even with FICO's rate-shopping window helping you, the inquiries are still visible to future lenders for 24 months. A marketplace soft pull collapses that shopping stage into a single soft inquiry that surfaces multiple lender matches, so the hard pull only happens once you have chosen the lender you actually want to fund with.

This is the practical credit-impact case for shopping business funding through a marketplace like BizBee Funding before going direct to any single lender, including OnDeck.

If you already know you want OnDeck's specific term loan or line of credit product, for example because you are an existing OnDeck customer with a good repayment history and you qualify for same-day funding on a renewal, applying directly is straightforward and the credit impact is identical to going through a marketplace and then choosing OnDeck.

The marketplace advantage shows up when you do not yet know which lender or product is right for your profile, or when you want to weigh OnDeck against several alternatives before committing to any hard inquiry.

Owner comparing OnDeck against two other lenders

Situation: 2 years in business, 660 FICO, $35K/month deposits, wants to compare OnDeck, Bluevine, and one term-loan lender.

Recommendation: Start with BizBee's soft-pull match to see all three side by side. Only the chosen lender triggers a hard pull.

Existing OnDeck customer up for renewal

Situation: Existing OnDeck LOC, on-time payments, looking to increase the line.

Recommendation: Apply directly with OnDeck. They already have your data, and renewals can fund same day with minimal credit impact.

Owner with recent hard inquiries

Situation: 3 hard pulls in the past 60 days from previous funding searches, needs $50K working capital.

Recommendation: Use BizBee's soft-pull pre-qualification first to identify the most likely-approved lender before committing to another hard inquiry.

Compare 100+ lenders with one soft pull. No credit impact.

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Does checking my offers on BizBee Funding hurt my credit?

Does OnDeck use a soft pull or a hard pull?

How much does a hard pull lower my FICO score?

If I shop through BizBee and then apply with OnDeck, will I get two hard pulls?

How long do hard inquiries stay on my credit report?

Is the rate-shopping window for business loans the same as for mortgages?

Are there alternatives to OnDeck that also use soft-pull pre-qualification?

Does BizBee Funding charge any upfront fees?